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i don't believe there is any reason that automatic or semi-automatic weapons should be in citizens hands. if you want to protect yourself get a hand gun. if you want to hunt, get a shot gun or hunting rifle.

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I don't think citizens should be able to drive a car that can exceed the maximum posted speed limit in this country. Why should be enable anyone to have something that can break the law and potentially harm themselves or others?

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IThe internet has led to a culture of glamorizing violence, and exacerbated the problem of child porn.

For two hundred years, people did their research in schools and libraries. It seems only reasonable to return to that model. We can put more computers in libraries, with monitors for public safety. Exemptions would of course be in place guaranteeing access to religious and political material.

It's hard to imagine someone can justify a "need" for instant, unlimited access to information, unchecked by any oversight, with the risks of the above and of terrorist activity. Society managed perfectly reasonably for a long time, and certainly, the Founders couldn't foresee anything like this.

Political dissent and discussion is certainly a right, but profiting from ad dollars on graphic violence is not "free speech." We have to move away from the myth that the First Amendment protects potential criminals.

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@Peter Franz: The Second Amendment is FAR from untouched in this country. You libs think anyone can walk into a gun store, buy a machine gun, and walk out with it in minutes. Guns are very heavily regulated here in the US. There are all sorts of federal and local regulations about the size, length, capacity, etc. of firearms.

In most states, pistol permits are quite difficult to get. You generally have to agree to an extensive background check, complete a very long, detailed application, pay for and take a pistol safety class, and wait for quite a while (generally months) after you pass all those steps before you can get a pistol permit.

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Your post indicates that you don't know what semi-automatic means. We've had semi-automatic weapons since the late 1800s. It just means one bullet gets fired each time you pull the trigger. Even ancient revolvers do this. Would you like to ban them too?

Automatic and semi-automatic do NOT mean the same thing. But the press plays on the lack of knowledge of most of the public and tries to create the impression that semi-automatic means automatic. I know this is true because most of my lib friends believe that "semi-automatic weapon" means machine gun. They just have no clue that they are anxious to ban technology that has been around since the 1800s.

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Handguns ARE often semiautomatics, as are many hunting shotguns and hunting rifles...
Most cops carry semiautos, like the Glock, or the Sigs carried by the Secret Service. ...and yes, the Sandy Hook shooter. What if a cop snaps? Or his kid can get at a couple of his guns? Should we disarm the Secret Service? The cops? It's the person, not the tool.
Also, if I'm faced with an armed intruder or other defensive shooting situation, I don't want to have to call a 'time out' to reload.

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With practice, many folks can reload in 1-2 seconds. A pocketful of 10 round mags would yield roughly the same result as a pocketful of 15 round mags holding the same total number of rounds.
But, it's a start toward more gun control... So the Administration will support it, as they will support a ban on ugly 'military style' rifles. The old ban cited threaded barrels, flash hiders, etc. None of which made the rifle more lethal...

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That's still the case in New York state. You can own actual assault rifles that have been used by the US military (e.g., M1s, M14s, etc.) with no problems. But you can't own a post-Clinton-ban rifle that LOOKS like a liberal's idea of what an "assault weapon" is (e.g., M16, AK-47). Take a rifle that's legal but then add a pistol grip and flash suppressor to it, and it is now illegal. It's all based on appearance, not functionality.

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NOT TRUE! Have you checked the Chicago gun violence stats lately? IL is the LAST state in the union to not allow concealed carry. Although due to a recent ruling by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, that should be changing shortly. I believe you will see a DECREASE in Chicago gun violence when concealed carry is finally implemented in IL. Cowardly criminals think twice before engaging in violence against a potential victim whom they are not sure will not fire back at them.

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This will not change until the drugging of kids is stopped (this did not start to happen until the 90s - when the drugging of students on pharmas really took off), people accept personal responsibility for their own security and those placed under their charge, and schools are not constructed like prisons that little kids can not get out of (those classrooms are locked down and no one can get out of them. In modern schools, the windows are sealed, too high or not there at all so there is no way to run out of a classroom that is locked down). I really do not understand why anyone would work at a public school. It's just too dangerous, especially if security is contracted out to third parties that will show up minutes after it is needed.

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Banning guns (any type or ammunition capacity) will solve this problem. Seriously! I would suggest that to solve this issue we need more guns in the hands of responsible individuals. One shot from a teacher or school administrator could lessened the damaged done by this individual. The only other option will be to disarm the entire nation. The notion that we can remove ALL guns from our entire populous is ludicrous.In Israel, guns are everywhere and people know how to use them. In that society, there are almost no incidents of this type.

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The US have stripped morality from its curriculum and replaced it with the new Federally-mandated religion of secular-humanism. Why do we wonder about such tragedies when we have overtly charted a course that has no alternative ending? Expect more of the same until we begin teaching our children right and wrong again.

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Don't expect the gun lobby to compromise even the littlest bit after 20 little kids get slaughtered very efficiently by a troubled young man with an AR-15....or movie goers are offed with the same weapon."I need my high cap magazine so I can put 20 rounds into a deer!" "How else will I defend my castle from hordes of heavily-armed Democrats?" The NYT reports this morning that even the good citizens of Newtown who are burying their neighbors' children don't want to lose their right to semi-automatic weapons. Those who say that we are not a violent, angry nation need to help me understand why our murder rate is 10X that of most developed countries. And we are unable even to limit the least sportsmanlike of weapons.

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to me what counts is the ability to stay in rapid fire mode for a long time without having to pause to reload........i really used to like that and often taped 3 banana clips to that end.....but it was not in A KINDERGARTEN

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I saw an interesting bit of doggerel some years back that describes the slippery slope we are looking at:

When they came for the communists I didn't object because I wasn't a communist.
When they came for the trade unionists I didn't object because I wasn't a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews I didn't object because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me, and no one objected.

To paraphrase that a bit:

When they came for the semi automatic weapons I didn't object because I didn't own any semi-automatic weapons.
When they came for the handguns I didn't object because I didn't own any handguns.
When they came for the 'sniper rifles' I didn't object because I didn't own any 'sniper rifles.'
Then they came for my gun, and no one objected.

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Freedom to arm yourself, the way it is enforced in the US today, is a unique, parochial American phenomenon. No other civilized, advanced democracy in the world has such nonsensical views about the need for common citizens to legally buy semi-automatic weaponry to "defend" themselves. Defend themselves from what? From other citizens with different political views? Are we still in the Civil War?Why else do we have the most powerful military in the world? I have seen movies where American citizens "defend" themselves from invasions from Russians, North Koreans, Aliens, Etc... But that is all fiction, for C... sake!

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Well, it's a damned good thing this ISN'T a 'democracy' then, isn't it? This country was instituted specifically NOT to emulate governance as practiced in the rest of the world. Those who prefer cookie-cutter collectivization in mind and lifestyle are thus anti-American by fundamental definition. .

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America has always been the most civilized, advanced REPUBLIC (not democracy) in the world, Mr. Garcia. It's all based on individual freedom. If you have a problem with our Constitution, why don't you move to one of those advanced "democracies"?

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I do not live in any advanced democracy nor in the United States, even tough I am an American citizen, Mrs. Rich.I live in Dominican Republic and I have no need nor will to live in the United States even tough I am entitled to.

You seem to feel very strongly about this issue. Your answer has more to do with emotion than with reason. I also perceive a very high degree of arrogance, when you state, in a rotund, unequivocal way, that "America has always been the most civilized, advanced... Etc.

As a citizen of the world I disagree with your parochial, blanket statement about American superiority. In the end, I think there is too much of that in many American minds. Humility and knowledge of the rest of the world is sorely lacking.

This is my reply to you and to Mr. Fields, who also has an abundance of capital letters.

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OK, but only if you limit to large countries with international sway. some small countries (as in Scandinavia) are pretty good but have populations less then our metro areas.....and lots of money. they seem quite happy and blissfully unaware of restrictions on their individual freedoms

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Mr. Garcia, freedom to arm yourself is protected by the Second Amendment. Yes, it is in our constitution. As Americans, we may not like the constitution but we are obliged to defend it, that is why we have three branches of government. We can't let some megalomaniac appoint himself a dictator then forbid responsible people who need gun from obtaining them or ban guns completely. What we failed as Americans in many of these mass killings is we did not think out on how we deal with mental illness and protect society from the dangerous mentally ill who want to do harm to us.

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Fair enough. But what kind of weapons are the Swiss required by law to own? High-capacity ammunition magazines for assault rifles? Besides, Swiss history is quite atypical in that it has survived two consecutive suicidal wars by Western Europe; how? it was so strongly armed, along with a draft on all its population, that none of the powers wanted to attack it. Regarding Israel, it is well known that it is surrounded by fanatic enemies willing to kill themselves in order to annihilate Jews and the Jewish state out of the map.Any other examples?I am honestly interested.

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Mr Garcia. Why do you think Japan did not even consider an invasion of the US? For the same reason as Switzerland not being invaded. You may feel we have gotten past that level of self protection. You are entitled to your opinion. Many others, including me, do not agree.

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As I told Charles, Swiss history is quite amazing. It has survived two World Wars by doing what you describe. It is difficult to know what it feels to grow up in Switzerland; we will never know if we haven't done it. The cultural difference makes all the difference.

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and the government keeps a rather close eye on these weapons as they are government issue and government property subject in inspection, and if needs be confiscation on demand. for some reason rarely employed to do mass killings at kindergarten perhaps as the government seems to get a pretty quick heads up when their reservist goes bonkers....or maybe those folks just don't do that sort of thing

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There is a lot of misunderstanding out there among those calling for tighter gun control. "Assault rifles" (fully automatic) are already illegal under federal law and require a Class 3 permit and approval through both NFA and local law enforcement to purchase. Additionally, these permits only grant access to weapons made pre-1986. The "assault rifles" that many are calling for a ban on really only differ from hunting rifles in that they look "tactical."

When guns are outlawed, only criminals have guns! More control may make some people feel good, but it won't make anyone safer. Quite the opposite.

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Absolutely correct. Most liberals wouldn't know a bolt-action from a pea-shooter, so I understand every gun they see is an "assault rifle". There are many laws in the books controlling what type of weapons are legal, liberals just think you walk into a 7-11 and buy an AK-47.

Liberals want to deflect the argument onto the weapon, when it is the society that liberal-think has created that is the catalyst for these tragedies. We’ve had weapons since the Pilgrims… not until secular-humanism took over did we have to deal with this.